Golden State Warriors: The 2015 Off-Season
Oftentimes, when a professional sports franchise finally captures a championship, their ensuing off-season features a great amount of free agent shuffling.
However, this is certainly not the case for the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, as they plan on entering the 2015-2016 regular season with a roster that is nearly identical to the one that lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy this past June (aside from a short list of unavoidable exceptions).
The few notable roster changes include names such as Kevon Looney, Justin Holiday, Gerald Wallace, and David Lee.
As addressed in a previous blog, with the 30th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Warriors selected PF Kevon Looney, who will seemingly be a quite valuable asset to their franchise moving forward.
In a deal featuring slightly less media coverage, SG Justin Holiday has signed a 2-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks.
Although Golden State will miss Holiday greatly, it was clearly time for him to pursue an expanded role on the court at this stage of his career.
Nevertheless, the biggest news of the Warriors' off-season thus far came on Tuesday, when it was announced that Golden State would ship veteran PF David Lee to Boston in exchange for veteran SF Gerald Wallace.
This deal seemed like a smart move for both sides, as the Warriors were looking to free salary cap space (they will already be forced to pay into the luxury tax), and the Celtics were looking for veteran leadership to help their young core through the "rebuilding" process.
At this point, it is unclear whether the Warriors will retain or waive Wallace's contract, but it is quite certain that the 14-year veteran will not be much of a contributor in the 2015-2016 campaign.
In other news, Golden State has signed both Draymond Green and Leandro Barbosa to significant contract extensions.
As the summer continues, it should be interesting to see if the Warriors are satisfied with their current roster, or if they will seek further adjustments heading into the fall.
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